Hi All,
I've been without a bike for a good few years now and am feeling ready to buy one. The questions is really - what do I need?... and is this compatible with what I want?
I live in Brisbane, Australia - here we can take bikes on trains and this is one of the things I want to take advantage of. My car isn't reliable - when it breaks down I often can't afford to get it fixed straight away... and, I don't like feeling stranded. Where I currently live I am reasonably close to a train station and there are heaps of shops in my local area - I could access everything I need by foot but would rather do it by bike because I find walking a bit slow and uninteresting (especially bad on hot days).
In the past when I lived in a different area I borrowed a 12 speed racer to cycle to the train station (which was further away). I guess this bike was good for speed but what was scary was that with traffic always whizzing by I always had to stay riding in the gutter and the surface was really bad - I was always worried about dinging up my wheel rims with such narrow tyres (and in fact did a bit). I also felt quite threatened because in an emergency there is no way to jump a racer off the road and onto the footpath - those bikes are just not made to do that type of things. They really seem too big for footpaths and anyway - you tend to go too fast on them for pedestrian safety. And my last complaint - the shape of the handle bars always had me with my shoulders hunched down and my neck angled back to be able to see the road properly - it always resulted in a sore neck.
So... fast forward to now. My dream bike would be a BMX. Yes, probably this has partially to do with a romantic notion carried over from childhood - my family never had enough bikes to go around but we shared a couple of bmxs and I did really enjoy riding them. Also, I can see these being good for taking on trains because they are small - I have observed as a commuter people bringing both full sized adult bikes and smaller (bmxs/childrens bikes) onto the train and seen the smaller bikes to cause far less hassles to everyone on the train. I wouldn't ride a bike on main roads for fear of being struck by a motorist so I see taking a bike on a train as a good option - you can go long distances on trains and just ride in the local area at either end of your journey. With a bmx in a suburban area you could choose between footpath and roadside according to the particular situation and you could easily switch back and forwards between the 2 because its not hard to jump the gutter.
So, the problem - I'm a 27 year old female (fairly small in size) walking into bike shops and checking out bmxs and getting lots of strange looks from sales-people. Should I let them put me off? Is it so strange? And finally, could I actually be comfortable on a bmx - would it really be quite big enough? I'd love something with old fashioned high handlebars that curve backwards (rather than the straight T-bar ones that seem all the rage today). Maybe I could buy a bmx & find an old set of handle bars to switch to.
Does anyone here have any thoughts about this? Any advice or observations? I'd just like some guidance. I'm dreaming of a bmx - but maybe its not really practical? Please, either put my mind at ease or suggest something more realistic. I'd really appreciate it!
I've been without a bike for a good few years now and am feeling ready to buy one. The questions is really - what do I need?... and is this compatible with what I want?
I live in Brisbane, Australia - here we can take bikes on trains and this is one of the things I want to take advantage of. My car isn't reliable - when it breaks down I often can't afford to get it fixed straight away... and, I don't like feeling stranded. Where I currently live I am reasonably close to a train station and there are heaps of shops in my local area - I could access everything I need by foot but would rather do it by bike because I find walking a bit slow and uninteresting (especially bad on hot days).
In the past when I lived in a different area I borrowed a 12 speed racer to cycle to the train station (which was further away). I guess this bike was good for speed but what was scary was that with traffic always whizzing by I always had to stay riding in the gutter and the surface was really bad - I was always worried about dinging up my wheel rims with such narrow tyres (and in fact did a bit). I also felt quite threatened because in an emergency there is no way to jump a racer off the road and onto the footpath - those bikes are just not made to do that type of things. They really seem too big for footpaths and anyway - you tend to go too fast on them for pedestrian safety. And my last complaint - the shape of the handle bars always had me with my shoulders hunched down and my neck angled back to be able to see the road properly - it always resulted in a sore neck.
So... fast forward to now. My dream bike would be a BMX. Yes, probably this has partially to do with a romantic notion carried over from childhood - my family never had enough bikes to go around but we shared a couple of bmxs and I did really enjoy riding them. Also, I can see these being good for taking on trains because they are small - I have observed as a commuter people bringing both full sized adult bikes and smaller (bmxs/childrens bikes) onto the train and seen the smaller bikes to cause far less hassles to everyone on the train. I wouldn't ride a bike on main roads for fear of being struck by a motorist so I see taking a bike on a train as a good option - you can go long distances on trains and just ride in the local area at either end of your journey. With a bmx in a suburban area you could choose between footpath and roadside according to the particular situation and you could easily switch back and forwards between the 2 because its not hard to jump the gutter.
So, the problem - I'm a 27 year old female (fairly small in size) walking into bike shops and checking out bmxs and getting lots of strange looks from sales-people. Should I let them put me off? Is it so strange? And finally, could I actually be comfortable on a bmx - would it really be quite big enough? I'd love something with old fashioned high handlebars that curve backwards (rather than the straight T-bar ones that seem all the rage today). Maybe I could buy a bmx & find an old set of handle bars to switch to.
Does anyone here have any thoughts about this? Any advice or observations? I'd just like some guidance. I'm dreaming of a bmx - but maybe its not really practical? Please, either put my mind at ease or suggest something more realistic. I'd really appreciate it!
